Why should a woman want to "service" a gentleman?
Why should women want to "service" the King? Already, there is a disparity of equality. It was said that the King's many women, brought from around Hangzhou, from the city and the farms, "wanted to please." The emphasis is on this "willingness," in the telling of the story. But in reality, they were probably given little choice in the matter. And the average man, at this time, has one wife and is relatively poor. He works from sunup to sunset. King Fanfur, however, had ample time for the “erotic”!
From Marco Polo’s Description of the World, “…and he made the said [damsels] run with dogs and he gave chase these kinds of animals; and "played with his courtesans in the woods," which faced one another above the said lakes. Leaving their clothes there, they "came out of [the woods] naked, and entered into the water and set themselves to swim, some on one side and some on the other, and he (the King) stayed to watch them with the greatest delight; and then (they) went back home.”[i]
Where was all this on the map?
Where was this? If you go to the 2005 Beijing report Number 9 or the posting here, you will see “4a.” In general, these are the “hills which face one another,” that Marco Polo described. Within those hills is area "4," which is speculated to have had porticoes on a covered walkway. The actual quarters of the "1,000 women," would have been on two sides of the covered walkway. (Choose the first slide. Make sure that it is larger by clicking on it.)
If we allow an India connection, in mythology the Indian god, Krishna, as an adolescent, was interested in pranks. He called upon the “Cowgirls” to go swimming with him. They disrobed. He sat in a tree and watched them. Not so unlike King Fanfur's diversions!
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